Posted on 06/14/2012 9:28:47 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Cougar in Montana: conservation strategies helped avoid extinction. Cougars are recolonising the mid-western United States, according to scientists, reversing 100 years of decline. The population of big cats, also known as American mountain lions, has rocketed in these states, from less than a hundred in 1990 to about 30,000 today.
Michelle LaRue from the University of Minnesota said that the midwest population of cougars had been "effectively zero" two decades ago. "That's why this is so exciting," she said. "We have hard evidence that the western population has spread."
The population of cougars declined substantially from about 1900, victims of hunting and a lack of suitable prey. Once considered a "bounty predator" and hunted to near extinction locally, cougars are now protected by law.
Three established breeding populations now exist in the upper midwest, in North Dakota, the Black Hills in South Dakota, and Nebraska, said LaRue, but cougars have been venturing far outside this range.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
They must be following their primary food source as it flees California.
One really good thing about mountain lions, they eliminate some of the feral hogs, of which we have too many.
Also known to reduce the small yapping dog population! :)
I had a bobcat in my backyard last year, I’m twenty miles south of Indianapolis.
Kind of cool to see one, heard rumors for years they were around but never saw any sign of one until it chased a squirrel into the open.
We saw what we believe to be two of them here in NE Wisconsin. Had to turn around and try and catch a glimpse of what we saw because we thought “Really? Mountain Lions or Cougars?!?!? Here?!?!”
EWWWWWWW
We have them in Oklahoma. I have seen a couple as well as tracks to a gut pile from a harvested deer which was gone the next morning.
Where are they headquartered? If they think this is a great idea they should have a dozen or so reintroduced in the general area of their parking lot. Same with DC. You like the idea of large predators so much they maybe you need some cougars, grizzlies, and wolves in your parks.
Sheriff’s deputy in Lawrence County, Indiana saw a Cougar eating roadkilled deer on Hwy 37 in 2010.
“US Scientists celebrate return of the cougar to the American Midwest”.
Correct title:
“Scientists Celebrate Proliferation Of Cougar Based Jobs.”
They are here...no doubt about it.
We've had sightings...We've had credible folks hear them.
WE have Bobcats all over down here in Georgia. While not totally pervasive, they aren’t rare. Our local zoo-ette has a family that was rescued from an abandoned house recently.
They also have Florida Panthers, one of which was so old they had to put it down. Made me sad.
Where did you grow up?
Florida Panthers...Everywhere, Boca down through Miami Beach!
That’s an awesome fake. I’ll bet it made the anti-hunting crowd giddy, but it is very funny and well made.
I have relatives who live in the southern part of PA. Two of them say they saw a mountain lion, as we call them here. It was on two different occasions and in two different areas, although the different areas were in close proximity to each other.
I thought I saw one about 2 months ago here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, but I am not sure. Seemed like an awfully big cat with an exceptionally long tail. But I just saw it from the rear, and I was driving so.... There are definitely a lot of deer around here that they could feast on.
Loved visiting them because it seemed so remote. I'd go out in the pasture alone, miles out, to bring in the cows for milking. Just a kid. Never had any concern about the wildlife. Never even saw a coyote in my 14 years there. There were coyotes. We'd see signs (not including the carcasses the farmers would hang on the fences, lol). But they were way more afraid of us than we were of them.
In my 14 years there, I never heard of even one person getting attacked by wildlife. But I don't think I would send a young kid out alone today to bring in the cows.
It could have been Leo! http://www.verismocat.com/htmscripts/leo-guinness.htm
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